Canada Ready for 2017 IIHF Men’s U18 World Championship

Darren Rumble of the QMJHL Moncton Wildcats is making his third
appearance with Hockey Canada's Program of Excellence men's U18 program
and his first as head coach at the U18 World Championships. (Daniel St.
Louis/Moncton Wildcats)

Team Canada will be looking at making history in Slovakia this April
at the 2017 IIHF U18 World Championship in Poprad and Spisska Nova Ves,
Slovakia.

In 2002, the last time the U18 tournament was held in Slovakia,
Canada finished without a medal after losing 5-3 to Belarus in the
bronze medal game.

This time around they are hoping for a much better result.

Canada will also be attempting to return home with a medal around
their necks after also falling in last year’s bronze medal contest.

The United States took third place in 2016 with a 10-3 rout of Team
Canada when the tournament was played in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

This year’s group of Canadian hopefuls left Canada on April 5 for Slovakia to participate in two pre-tournament games.

On April 9, Russia edged Canada 5-4 in Bratislava, the following day
in Piestany, Canada defeated Switzerland with a matching 5-4 score.

Canada will play in Group A along with Latvia, Switzerland, Finland (2016 World Champions) along with the host Slovakia.

Canada will begin the World Championship on April 13 against the Latvians.

Group B will feature Russia, Belarus, Sweden (2016 silver medalists) Czech Republic and the United States.

Darren Rumble from the QMJHL Moncton Wildcat will be behind the bench as the head coach for Team Canada.

This will be Rumble’s third appearance with Hockey Canada’s Program
of Excellence men’s under-18 program and first time as Team Canada’s
head coach at the 2017 IIHF U18 World Championship.

Rumble spent time as an assistant coach with Canada’s National Men’s
Summer Under-18 Team at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup in 2015 and 2016,
winning gold in his first appearance.

Established in 1999, HockeyNow is the only magazine delivering the best in news and stories from across the minor, junior, collegiate and female hockey ranks, both in print and through our world-class website at HockeyNow.ca. Print copies of our 43 annual issues are available free in hockey rinks across B.C., Alberta, and Ontario. We are deeply involved and committed to developing and promoting the game of hockey to our readers through unique perspectives and stories they won’t find anywhere else. See more...